Alamogordo,
Feb 21, 2004 -
Walking into the 44th Freedom Banquet Saturday evening was like walking into a hive of excited bees. The Alamogordo High School cafeteria was buzzing with excitement and politicians.
The excitement, it turned out, was enthusiasm for what the Sertoma Clubs banquet is about...freedom. The politicians were there, in part, to hear and acknowledge keynote speaker, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce.
Ceremonies opened with the AHS Air Force Jr. ROTC posting the colors, a performance which, as Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce President Dwight Harp said, “was a good as you’ll ever see. It was primo.”
Master of Ceremonies Ken Rogers spoke to the audience about the activities of Freedom Week. Sertomans passed out flags and copies of the Constitution to Alamogordo’s sixth graders early in the week, he said.
Mayor Don Carroll read a declaration about the week of Feb. 15-21 being Freedom Week in Alamogordo and he showed off a declaration from Gov. Bill Richardon.
“It says all the same things mine does,” Carroll said, “Only it declares the week throughout New Mexico.”
Carroll then introduced Sertoma International President Bill Stange, Jr. by saying, “Bill received a life Sertoma membership from his grandfather on his first birthday.”
Stange began talking about freedom.
“We grew up with freedom. The freedom to travel, the freedom to vote, the freedom to agree to disagree,” Stange said. He said he, and many other Americans, never knew what not having freedom is like.
Then, as an introduction to the “What America Means To Me” essay winner, Stange talked about the youth of the nation. He said that despite the negative media portrayals of young people, todays youth are positive.
“Our youth have our freedoms at their heart,” Stange said.
Essay winner John Davidson read his moving piece, restating the point he never knew what it was like not to live in freedom. He also talked about how thankful he is to live in America, not only a free but a wealthy nation.
Adult Basic Education Director Anita Raynor introduced Alamogordo’s most recent naturalized citizens, some of whom have lived here for more than 30 years. Heidi Doss, Duangsuda Buscemi from Thailand; Marlita Houghton from the Philippines; Hoang Nguyen from Vietnam; and Socorro Sanchez from Mexico, stood proudly holding their new framed copies of the U.S. Constitution.
Next up, Manny Gonzales introduced keynote speaker Rep. Pearce.
After a brief push of one of the issues closest to his heart, health care, Pearce went on to talk about the importance protecting the right to freedom.
Pearce said 9/11 changed the world. The events of Sept. 11, 2001 cost the U.S. 2 trillion dollars and 2,000 lives, he said.
“This country could not have withstood one more attack at that time,” Pearce said. “We’re in a fight against terrorism.”
Pearce was talking about the current conditions in the world and the war against terrorism.
“We do not just face crimes against the country, it’s crimes against humanity,” Pearce said.
“Freedom is not free. It takes tremendous sacrifice.”
Finally, the main focus of the banquet, Sertoma District Governor, Dos Rios District, Mike Moye introduced the Service to Mankind award winner for the year, Gilbert Zamora.
Zamora, who spend most of his life illiterate, took it on himself to learn to read several years ago.
Since then he has taken it on himself to share his experiences with students and others to encourage support for adult education programs.
Zamora was a founder of BLAST (Building Leadership in Adult Student Teaching) and has traveled around New Mexico speaking to middle school students and others about the importance of learning to read.
“One out of four adults are at a third grade level in New Mexico,” Zamora said. He inspires audiences to “Imagine,” what its like to not be able to read.
“Imagine if you couldn’t read...how would you function?” he said.
